Biogeographic Assessments to Meet Local & Regional Management Needs

Transcription

1 Biogeographic Assessments to Meet Local & Regional Management Needs August 2012 / NCCOS / Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research Chris Jeffrey Chris.Jeffrey@noaa.gov

2 Presentation Outline Overview of the Biogeographic Assessment Approach and Process Overview of the Florida Coral Reef Tract Biogeographic Assessment

3 Combine Biogeographic Layers for Analysis Analytical Products to Meet Management Objectives The Biogeographic Assessment Approach Biogeographic Data Layers Example Integrated Biogeographic Analyses* * Specific analyses targeted to management needs Products to Aid Management Imagery Defining and analyzing existing conditions Patterns of Human Use Bottom Type Species Richness Defining and analyzing future conditions Bathymetry Oceanography Species Distributions (many layers) Threatened Habitats Evaluate alternative management strategies (e.g. zoning)

4 Overview of the Assessment Process 1. Identify relevant management issues and questions Clients FKNMS Management (NOAA & FWC) Project Team

5 Overview of the Assessment Process 2. Data compilation and review Project Team Partners Providers of DATA SETS & Information

6 Overview of the Assessment Process 3. Data Integration & analysis Project Team Clients FKNMS Management (NOAA & FWC) Review Partners Providers of DATA SETS & Information

7 Overview of the Assessment Process 4. Product creation, roll-out, dissemination, and support Project Team Clients FKNMS Management (NOAA & FWC) Partners Providers of DATA SETS & Information

8 Biogeographic Assessments of National Marine Sanctuaries

9 SELECTED EXAMPLES OF BIOGEOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENTS & PRODUCTS

10 Assessment: Stellwagen Bank, MA Objective: To synthesize and integrate ecological data to support management plan review process. To provide spatial models of resource distribution to inform MA Ocean Plan. Balancing needs of shipping community and conservation

11 DYNAMIC VARIABLES STATIC VARIABLES Abiotic: Spatio-Temporal Data Bathymetry Slope Substrate Distance to Features Chlorophyll a Turbidity Sea Surface Temp. Seasonal Water Stratification

12 CETACEAN ABUNDANCES PREY ABUNDANCES Biotic: Spatio-Temporal Data Atlantic Mackerel Northern Sand Lance Zooplankton Mysticeti (Baleen Whales) Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin Northern Atlantic Right Whales

13 Results: Cetacean Distributions

14 Applications

15 Data Compilation & Integration

16 Assessment: Gray s Reef NMS, GA Opt. # # High ledges Area H ledges # Boats # Res. Sites K Resulted in 31,135 options! Objective: To measure the benefits and impacts of potential management zoning actions: Balancing needs of recreational boaters, fishermen, researchers, conservation

17 Assessment: Southern California Bight, CA Concept 1a Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4 Concept 5 Concept Area (km 2 ) Mean Bird Diversity High Diversity Area (km 2 ) D Area (%) D Mean Diversity (%) D High Diversiy Area (%) Mean Bird Diversity OAI (relative) High Diversity Area OAI (absolute) NAA a SA Objective: To evaluate alternative boundary concepts proposed for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: Balancing needs of local stakeholders

18 Assessment: Southern California Bight, CA Map of proposed site Subsequent uses: MLPA, CCC. The California Coastal Commission used predictive models of seabird distribution to identify potential ecological impacts of placing a liquid natural gas storage facility offshore of LA

19 Biogeographic Assessment of Florida s Coral Reef Tract An analytical process to inform: A) FKNMS Management Plan Review and Zoning B) SEFCRI Management Options Identification Process

20 NOAA CRCP (Funding) Project Team Clients FKNMS Management (NOAA & FWC) SEFCRI Process Planning Team Chris Jeffrey Theresa Goedeke Shay Viehman Moe Nelson Angela Orthmeyer Matt Kendall Dana Wusinich-Mendez Benjamin Ruttenberg Rene Baumstark Partners Providers of DATA SETS & Information

21 FCRT Project: Project Status 1. Identification of relevant management issues and questions 2. Data compilation 3. Data Integration, analysis, & review 4. Product creation, roll-out, dissemination, and support

22 FCRT Project: Identification of Management Issues and Questions Manager workshops hosted in July 2011 Draft Summary of Management Priorities and Data/Analytic Needs Geographies of Interest Habitats of Interest Regulatory, Legal & Management Layers Social, Economic & Human Use Layers Species-Specific Priorities Types of Data Needed Types of Analysis Requested

23 FCRT Project: Overarching Goal 1. Describe the distribution of resource species and benthic composition 2. Couple social, economic and human use data to observed spatial patterns along the reef tract 3. Integrate data on ecological and human use patterns so that development of coastal management and spatial planning would be based on the best available science

24 FCRT Project: Proposed Outputs & Products A geodatabase with GIS layers showing the spatial distribution of marine resources and human uses Maps and analyses characterizing spatial consistency and variation in regulations and managed activities across the FCRT A spatial bibliography on commercially and recreationally important species and their governing regulations, policies, and jurisdictional authorities Products will be tailored to meet the needs of each region (e.g., SEFCRI and Florida Keys)

25 Social Science: Social, Economic & Human Use Data Human Demographic Information Legal and Regulatory Boundaries/Zones Coastal Development and Land Use Legal and Regulatory Compliance Watercraft Related Infrastructure Human Use Activities Spatial Use Patterns

26 Social Component: Social, Economic & Human Use Layers

27 Social Component: Social, Economic & Human Use Layers

28 Ecological: biological resources Fishery (e.g., reef fish, tarpon, lobster) & non-fishery species Coral & other reef-associated benthic organisms Seagrass & other soft - bottom communities Crabs & Lobsters Others?

29 Ecological data on living resources

30 Ecological data on living resources

31 Fish spawning aggregation research Assess reef fish utilization of identified historical spawning sites Split-beam sonar surveys Diver surveys Upper Keys (off Key Largo) Initiated in 2007 Methodology development FSA sites previously fished out Lower Keys (off Key West) Initiated in 2009 Methodology transfer Status of FSA sites unknown SEFSC-CCFHR-FWCC partnership

32 Detect fish aggregation using fish finder Scientific split-beam (Simrad EK60) detects fish Acoustic strength indicates size filter large-ish fish Linked to boat s GPS Waypoints placed for diver surveys

33 Near the Tortugas Ecological Reserve North boundary: 2008 & 2009 Medium & large fish Densities in EEZ increase toward boundary Densities higher in Reserve TNER Boundary EEZ TNER

34 Benthic Mapping: A Unified Benthic Habitat Map Source: FWC / Florida Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, FL

35 Benthic Mapping: A Unified Benthic Habitat Map Source: FWC / Florida Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, FL

36 Spatial Bibliography What is it? Bibliographic data linked to a geographic framework. Why do it? Organizes existing information in geographic context, enabling questions of where. Doesn t this already exist? Close, but not quite. How might this be useful? Conservation and science planning, place-based literature reviews, identify gaps, extract content.

37 Spatial Bibliography Precedent projects in South Florida Everglades Annotated Bibliography (Schmidt 1991) Florida Keys Bibliography (Chiappone and Wright 1996) Dry Tortugas Annotated Bibliography (Schmidt and Pikula 1997) Biscayne Bay Annotated Bibliography (Cantillo et al. 2000) Florida Bay Imagery and Information, CoastView Vol. 1 Current projects online bibliographies Everglades Digital Library Regional Databases at NOAA Miami Regional Library at AOML Virtual Libraries: Dry Tortugas, Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay FKNMS Sanctuary Publications Florida FWRI Publications and Technical Reports ReefBase Online Library Online metadata search engines Florida GAME, Gulf GAME CORIS Florida

38 Spatial Bibliography Do these existing projects meet current needs? If not, how to add value without duplicating effort? What questions can be addressed? What information sources to include? What areas to focus on? What spatial scale is appropriate? What spatial delineation? watersheds/ estuaries / islands / inshore / offshore clinal gradient Dry Tortugas to St. Lucie political boundaries jurisdictional boundaries lat / lon grid-based framework

39 Spatial Bibliography Database Design linking Biblio table to spatial framework Field Name bibid (link to spatial framework and other tables) Title Author(s) Year Organization Type of Document Publication Info Web Location Filename Electronic data availability FCRT Regions County(s) Waterbody Number(s) Type of Information FCRT Species FCRT Habitat Types Groupings of fields: Primary bibliographic information = What Electronic availability Spatial footprint = Where Species and habitats

40 Spatial Bibliography Current scope build useable data tables Next steps develop online queryable database?

41 Spatial Bibliography What kind of output would be useful?

42 Spatial Bibliography Tool development want vs. need vs. feasibility Query interface map-based and/or pull-down menus? And who would maintain and host long-term?

43 FCRT Project: Timeline Year Compile & generate data layers for geo-database and spatial bibliography database; develop detailed analytical plan based on outcome of scoping meetings and expert working group; Year Data integration & analysis; generate draft & final map products (e.g, resource distribution) for review; Year Final product development, dissemination, and project wrap-up

44 FCRT Project: Next Steps Identify, acquire and compile any additional, critical datasets Finalize dataset(s) and conduct analyses Review of Analyses by clients & partners Work with managers to develop relevant and useful products